Sussex should donate to large cross-section

By Abbey Feierstein | May 30, 2014

Concerning the issue of grants to the Sussex County NAACP Youth Programs, an important and truly worthy organization, I feel it would be helpful to those of us who pay taxes to the county to become aware of all grants given by county council to nonprofit organizations.

I believe that our concern should be that the grants awarded to such organizations reflect the diversity of the population of Sussex County and that decisions made with our tax dollars are equitable and reasonable. The richness of our population is immense, including individuals from many races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, income levels, ages, educational levels, cultural interests and so forth.

Shouldn’t our focus be on ensuring that our elected officials are making decisions concerning the financial support of programs and organizations that reflect the make-up of our population? Wouldn’t you want to ensure that your tax dollars are being provided to support a myriad of needy programs in such a way that is balanced and reflective of the many differences of our community?

Obviously the pot of money available to support non-profits is limited, but should we expend our resources focusing on the manipulative rhetoric of a few versus looking at the larger picture of verifying that our elected officials are providing financial assistance to a cross-section of nonprofits in Sussex County?

The level of detail on the Sussex County website concerning grants to specific nonprofits was not sufficient enough for me as a taxpayer to ensure that we are or perhaps it was there and I was not able to discover it.